News

University of Ottawa professor of nursing and whistleblowing researcher, Amélie Perron is joining the Centre for Free Expression Whistleblowing Initiatives Steering Committee, the body that guides all aspects of the Centre’s work on whistleblowing issues.

The City of North Bay, Ont., has been named as the recipient of the 2020 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the municipal category.  The city is being recognized because of repeated efforts to circumvent basic transparency and accountability measures expected of democratic governments. Among the laundry list of concerns brought to the attention of the Code of Silence jury were:  

Senior Justice Canada lawyer and former whistleblower, Edgar Schmidt, is joining the Centre for Free Expression Whistleblowing Initiatives Steering Committee, the body that guides all aspects of the Centre’s work on whistleblowing issues. “Edgar will bring invaluable experience and knowledge to the Centre for Free Expression’s advocacy, assistance, research, and public education with respect to whistleblowing,” said James L. Turk, director of the Centre. 

Quebec's Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks has been named as the recipient of the 2020 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the provincial category.  The provincial ministry is being recognized for its unwillingness to share lab data with scientists at Environment Canada related to four mysterious fish kills that took place during the summer of 2019. At the time, dead fish showed up in the Ottawa River, with the source believed to be the Lièvre River, east of Ottawa and Gatineau. 

The Federal Cabinet is the 2020 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the federal category. The Cabinet is recognized for suppressing public access to details about very large loans—at times amounting to billions of dollars—given to corporations out of the public purse.

The Centre for Free Expression is pleased to announce that author, actor, and academic Vershawn Ashanti Young is joining the Centre’s Advisory Board. Young is Professor in the Departments of English Language and Literature and of Communications Arts at the University of Waterloo where he teaches communication, race, gender, literature, writing, and performance. He is also a solo performance artist and writer.